Thursday, May 14, 2015

Our school's music concert is this week and the students are singing songs from kids movies and tv shows. I always offer my art skills to help decorate for the concert to our music teacher. This year I put the kids to work doing character drawings from all the songs they are singing. They did such a great job! And the best part was they were so into it! On the first day of drawing there was a buzz of excitement, and then silence as they got to work! That's how I know they are working hard!

Our 4th graders always do a Wisconsin unit in their content areas in the classroom and learn about famous people from Wisconsin. Georgia O'Keeffe is one of our prize residents. Students watched a short video about the life and works of O'Keeffe. We discussed abstract art versus realism art. We also discussed how O'Keeffe used cropping in her artwork to abstract it. Students did a quick pencil drawing of a flower. The petals had to touch the edges of the paper. Students then used tissue and liquid starch to fill in the flowers. I gave them several suggestions on how to apply the tissue, and it was great to see them come up with their own ideas as well!

BEST NEW ART TRICK I LEARNED THIS YEAR IS USING LIQUID STARCH AS A GLUE RATHER THAN PAPER MACHE GLUE! IT IS SO MUCH EASIER TO CLEAN UP, SO MUCH BETTER FOR BRUSHES, AND IS VERY CHEAP TO BUY!

In second grade students always learn about butterflies for one of their science units. It's a great spring art tie in. We watched a short video learning (reviewing) several facts about butterflies. Students then discussed what symmetry is and we discussed examples both found in nature and man made. Students used bleeding tissue paper to create the background and vellum paper for the butterflies.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

3rd
graders learned about Ancient Egypt through a short video. They learned that
Egyptians believe in an afterlife when they die. To prepare the body for the
afterlife the deceased body goes through a mummification process. Once the body
is turned into a mummy, it is placed into Sarcophagus that holds the body for
the rest of eternity. The Sarcophagus’s were works of art themselves encrypted
with hieroglyphs and pictures.

3rd
graders did a great job designing their Egyptian Sarcophagus. Students also
wrote their names in hieroglyphics down the center of their sarcophagus.

Welcome!

Welcome to my art blog! I teach elementary art in Green Bay, WI. The lessons I share are often ideas from other art blogs, Pinterest, lesson shares, or that is where the idea starts from. I love the art education community! I hope that my young artists inspire you!